Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

adstock, whose preaching became the catalyst for the tradition, was clearly bringing an alternative theological and hermeneutical tradition to that of the Orthodox Church, The theological hermeneutics of Radstock was of a_ typological, Christocentric, literalist, pneumatic and experiential nature typical of the hermeneutics of the emerging holiness movement... Biblical texts were read through the grid of preconceived theological frameworks in order to achieve two major goals: the conversion of nominal Christians, and the edification of born-again Christians. In the process of producing the desired meaning, Radstock would not be constrained by literary or historical contexts. Typological interpretation was used with both Old and New Testament texts. Biblical personages were used as types either of the contemporary audience or of the transcendent Christ. *® Radstock believed that reading the Bible was sufficient to enable a Christian to understand and follow the way of Christ. In his teaching and preaching he tried to help the listeners to see themselves ‘as part of the scriptural story of creation-fall- redemption-consummation, interpreted through an evangelical grid, with its focus on 739 convertive piety and assurance of salvation.’~” As noted by Leskov, Radstock’s success 37 James P. Callahan offers the following description of such primitivist reading of the Bible, ‘By reading the Bible, not interpreting it, the Brethren thought themselves equipped to understand the belief and practices of the apostolic church. They appealed to their application of the Bible to the contemporary church in a direct manner; they claimed to read the Bible with a simple literalism; they argued that the Bible should be received and obeyed rather than interpreted; they advised others not to trust interpretative systems; and they rejected the allegorical reading of prophecy...’ (Primitivist Piety: The Ecclesiology of the Early Plymouth Brethren (Lanham, Scarecrow, 1996), pp 150-151). This insight is rather important for the current research since it is very similar to the hermeneutical principle, identified by McClendon as a Baptist Vision, which as he argued, is a main characteristic feature of any baptistic group. For more detailed analysis of McClendon’s hermeneutics and his concept of the Baptist Vision see Chapter 5 and 6 of this research. 38 Puzynin, The tradition of the Gospel Christians, p 51. See also Kuznetsova, “Early Russian Evangelicals...,” pp 105-108. 3° Andrey Puzynin, “The Tradition of the Gospel Christians: A Reconstruction of the Practice of Biblical Interpretation,” in Theological Reflections, Vol. 13 (2012), p 35. 61 among the St. Petersburg’s nobility was not due to his eloquence or exquisite manners. Rather, it was his simple faith and immediacy in his relationship to God that made people interested in his message.”° In the life and teaching of Colonel Pashkov, who was converted